Features of the Earth

A. Earths Vital Statistics

Earths shape oblate spheroid

Polar radius 6,357 kilometers
Equatorial radius 6,378 kilometers
Mean radius 6,371 kilometers
Circumference around the poles Approx. 40,009 kilometers
Circumference around the equator Approx. 40,079 kilometers
Ellipticity = (equatorial radius-polar
radius)/ equatorial radius
1/283
Mass of the Earth 5.98 x 10
24
kg
Volume of the Earth 1.08 x 10
12
km
3
Density of the Earth 5520 kg/cm
3
or 5.52 g/cm
3
http://www.f-lohmueller.de/pov_tut/animate/im/planet_01ani.gif
Motions of Earth and Its Effects
Earths Revolution and Rotation
Revolution- movement of Earth around the sun in a slightly
elliptical orbit that requires an average of one year for one
complete circuit
Perihelion- point on orbit where the planet is nearest the sun
91.5 million miles on January 3
Aphelion- point on orbit where the planet is farthest from the sun
94.5 million miles on July 4
The elliptical orbit of the earth around the sun.
The Earth rotates at a uniform rate on its axis once every 24
hours.
It causes day and night.
The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
The Earths axis makes a 661/2 degrees angle with its orbital
plane or 231/2 degrees from a line perpendicular to its plane
of orbit.


Solstices and Equinoxes
The diagrams show the apparent path of the sun at the solstices and equinoxes
in the Northern Hemisphere. What is the suns path at the equinoxes and the
December solstice for the Southern Hemisphere?
EARTHS SEASONS
Seasons Interactive Display
The sun reaches its highest and lowest noon altitude as the
earth moves to point the North Pole directly toward the sun
(June 21 or 22) and directly away from the sun (December 22
or 23) solstices sun stand still
NorthernHemispheres summer solstice occurs on about June
22 and the winter solstice on about December 22
The times when the axis of the earth is perpendicular to a line
between the center of the sun and the earth and daylight and
night are of equal length are called equinoxes equal
nights
Spring equinox or vernal equinox- occurs on about March
21
Autumnal equinox occurs on about September 23

Sunlight on Earth
The diagram shows how Earths tilted axis affects the strength of
sunlight in different places.
EARTHS SEASONS
EARTHS SEASONS
SUMMER
WINTER
http://www.cyberphysics.co.uk/graphi
cs/animations/Flash/LengthofDay.swf
EARTHS SEASONS
Earths Moon and Its Motions and Effects
The moon lies on the average around 384, 400 km away and
takes 27.3 days to orbit the Earth.
Its rotation period is called tidally locked. Therefore, one half
is always facing the Earth while the other half is always facing
away.
Point on the moons orbit nearest to earth is called perigee
while the farthest point is apogee.

The Moons Motion
MOONS PHASES
http://highered.mcgraw-
hill.com/olcweb/cgi/pluginpop.cgi?it=swf::800::600::/sites/dl/free/007299181x/78778/Lunar_Nav.swf::Lunar%20Phases%20Interactive
The Phases of the Moon
The ratio of illuminated to non-illuminated portions of the lunar
disk, is known as its phase.
Full moon- earth is sandwiched between the sun and the
moon and we can see the illuminated portion of the lunar disk
New moon- halfway through the month, the moon has
reached a point in its orbit around the earth where it is not
sandwiched between the earth and sun

MOONS PHASES
Tides
Periodic rise and falling of large bodies of water
When the sun and the moon are aligned, there are
exceptionally strong gravitational forces, causing very high
and very low tides SPRING TIDES
When the sun and the moon are not aligned, the gravitational
forces cancel each other out, and the tides are not as
dramatically high and low NEAP TIDES
Tide Cycle
Tides are caused mainly by differences in how much gravity from the
moon and the sun pulls on different parts of Earth.
Tides
Eclipses
Eclipse- means the darkening of the light of one celestial
body by another
The shadow from the earth and the shadow from the moon
are long cones that point away from the sun. Both cones have
two parts, an inner cone of a complete shadow UMBRA and
an outer cone of partial shadow called PENUMBRA
Solar Eclipse- occurs during a new moon, when the moon is
directly between earth and sun
Total Solar Eclipse- occur when the umbra of the moons
shadow touches a region on the surface of the earth
Partial Solar Eclipse- occur when the penumbra of the moons
shadow passes over a region on the earths surface
Annular Solar Eclipse- occur when a region on the Earths
surface is in line with the umbra, but the distances are such
that the tip of the umbra does not reach the Earths surface
Lunar Eclipse- when the moon is full and the sun, moon and
earth are lined up, so the earths shadow falls on the moon
Solar Eclipse
The diagram shows the moons penumbra and umbra during an eclipse.
SOLAR ECLIPSES
Lunar Eclipse
As the moon moves through Earths shadow, total and partial eclipses
occur.
LUNAR ECLIPSES
Earths Surface Features
70% is covered with water
30% is taken up by the seven continental land masses
4/5 of the land lies in the Northern Hemisphere
9/10 of the land lies in the Southern Hemisphere
The highest point on the land Mt.Everest 8,884 meters
above sea level
The deepest portion of the ocean floor- Nero deep in the
Mariana Trench 11,055 meters below

Earths Internal Features
Core- highly dense core made up of nickel and iron; the outer
core is believed to be liquid while the inner core is solid
Mantle- it is dense and mostly solid silicate rock
Crust- it is a thin silicate rock material of lowest density